A Cost-Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power

Gunawan, Andrey; Singh, Abhishek K.; Simmons, Richard A.; Haynes, Megan W.; Limia, Alexander; Ha, Jong Min; Kottke, Peter A.; Fedorov, Andrei G.; Lee, Seung Woo; Yee, Shannon K.

doi:10.1002/adsu.201900104

Title: A Cost-Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power

Journal Article · Wed Feb 19 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Advanced Sustainable Systems

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/adsu.201900104· OSTI ID:1608463

^[1];

^[1]; Simmons, Richard A. ^[1]; Haynes, Megan W. ^[1]; Limia, Alexander ^[1]; Ha, Jong Min ^[1]; Kottke, Peter A. ^[1];

^[1];

^[1]

Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

We present that a sodium thermal electrochemical converter (Na-TEC) generates electricity directly from heat through isothermal expansion of sodium ions across a beta"-alumina solid-electrolyte. This heat engine has been considered for use with conventional concentrating solar power (CSP) systems before. However, unlike previous single-stage devices, the improved design uses two stages with an interstage reheat, allowing more economical and efficient conversion up to 29% at a hot side temperature of 850 °C. Herein, a cost-performance analysis for this improved design assesses opportunities for distributed-CSP in the context of micro-combined heat and power systems. A high-level techno-economic analysis (TEA) is presented that explores four scenarios where a Na-TEC is used as the heat engine for a distributed-CSP system. Overnight capital cost and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) are estimated for a system lifetime of 30 years, revealing that overnight capital costs in a range from $3.57 to $17.71 per W_e are feasible, which equate to LCOEs from 6.9 to 17.2 cents kWh_e^-1. This analysis makes a significant contribution by concurrently quantifying the efficiency and unit costs for a range of multistage configurations, and demonstrating that a Na-TEC may be a promising alternative to Stirling engines for distributed-CSP systems at residential scale of 1–5 kW_e.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0007110; DGE‐1650044

OSTI ID:: 1608463

Journal Information:: Advanced Sustainable Systems, Vol. 4, Issue 6; ISSN 2366-7486

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 1 work

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (27)

Concept design of solar thermal receiver using alkali metal thermal to electric converter (AMTEC) Tanaka, Kotaro Current Applied Physics, Vol. 10, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cap.2009.07.031	journal	March 2010
Solar thermal CSP technology: Solar thermal CSP technology Romero, Manuel; González-Aguilar, José Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Vol. 3, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.79	journal	August 2013
Thermal energy storage for solar power production: Thermal energy storage for solar power production Siegel, Nathan P. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Vol. 1, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.10	journal	June 2012
Micro-combined heat and power systems (micro-CHP) based on renewable energy sources Martinez, Simon; Michaux, Ghislain; Salagnac, Patrick Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 154 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2017.10.035	journal	December 2017
Dish Stirling Advanced Latent Storage Feasibility Andraka, C. E. Energy Procedia, Vol. 49 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.03.074	journal	January 2014
A parabolic dish/AMTEC solar thermal power system and its performance evaluation Wu, Shuang-Ying; Xiao, Lan; Cao, Yiding Applied Energy, Vol. 87, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.08.041	journal	February 2010
The Potential Role of Concentrating Solar Power within the Context of DOE's 2030 Solar Cost Targets Murphy, Caitlin; Sun, Yinong; Cole, Wesley J. https://doi.org/10.2172/1491726	report	January 2019
The prospect of high temperature solid state energy conversion to reduce the cost of concentrated solar power Henry, Asegun; Prasher, Ravi Energy Environ. Sci., Vol. 7, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1039/C4EE00288A	journal	January 2014
Thermal energy grid storage using multi-junction photovoltaics Amy, Caleb; Seyf, Hamid Reza; Steiner, Myles A. Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 12, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1039/C8EE02341G	journal	January 2019
$ per W metrics for thermoelectric power generation: beyond ZT Yee, Shannon K.; LeBlanc, Saniya; Goodson, Kenneth E. Energy Environ. Sci., Vol. 6, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1039/C3EE41504J	journal	January 2013
Solar Energy on Demand: A Review on High Temperature Thermochemical Heat Storage Systems and Materials Carrillo, Alfonso J.; González-Aguilar, José; Romero, Manuel Chemical Reviews, Vol. 119, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00315	journal	March 2019
Optimal sizing of a grid-connected PV system for various PV module technologies and inclinations, inverter efficiency characteristics and locations Notton, G.; Lazarov, V.; Stoyanov, L. Renewable Energy, Vol. 35, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2009.07.013	journal	February 2010
Experimental demonstration of a dispatchable latent heat storage system with aluminum-silicon as a phase change material Rea, Jonathan E.; Oshman, Christopher J.; Singh, Abhishek Applied Energy, Vol. 230 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.09.017	journal	November 2018
The Marginal Costs of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Tol, Richard S. J. The Energy Journal, Vol. 20, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol20-No1-4	journal	January 1999
Concentrating Solar Power Weinstein, Lee A.; Loomis, James; Bhatia, Bikram Chemical Reviews, Vol. 115, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.5b00397	journal	August 2015
Techno-Economics of Cogeneration Approaches for Combined Power and Desalination From Concentrated Solar Power Gunawan, Andrey; Simmons, Richard A.; Haynes, Megan W. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Vol. 141, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4042061	journal	January 2019
Thermal Reduction of Iron Oxide under Reduced Pressure and Implications on Thermal Conversion Efficiency for Solar Thermochemical Fuel Production Singh, Abhishek K.; AuYeung, Nicholas J.; Randhir, Kelvin Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol. 54, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1021/ie504402x	journal	June 2015
Dish Stirling technology: A 100 MW solar power plant using hydrogen for Algeria Abbas, Mohamed; Boumeddane, Bousaad; Said, Noureddine International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 36, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.12.114	journal	April 2011
Thermal modeling and efficiency of a dual-stage sodium heat engine Limia, Alexander; Kottke, Peter; Fedorov, Andrei G. Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 145 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2018.09.071	journal	December 2018
A dual-stage sodium thermal electrochemical converter (Na-TEC) Limia, Alexander; Ha, Jong Min; Kottke, Peter Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 371 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.10.022	journal	December 2017
A review of micro combined heat and power systems for residential applications Murugan, S.; Horák, Bohumil Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 64 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.04.064	journal	October 2016
Optimal sizing of array and inverter for grid-connected photovoltaic systems Mondol, Jayanta Deb; Yohanis, Yigzaw G.; Norton, Brian Solar Energy, Vol. 80, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2006.01.006	journal	December 2006
Thermoelectric Energy Conversion with Solid Electrolytes Cole, T. Science, Vol. 221, Issue 4614 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.221.4614.915	journal	September 1983
High efficiency thermoelectric conversion with beta″-alumina electrolytes, the sodium heat engine Hunt, T. K.; Weber, N.; Cole, T. Solid State Ionics, Vol. 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-2738(81)90243-5	journal	October 1981
Micro combined heat and power (MCHP) technologies and applications Maghanki, Maryam Mohammadi; Ghobadian, Barat; Najafi, Gholamhassan Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 28 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.07.053	journal	December 2013
Influence of the thermal energy storage on the profitability of micro-CHP systems for residential building applications Barbieri, Enrico Saverio; Melino, Francesco; Morini, Mirko Applied Energy, Vol. 97 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.01.001	journal	September 2012
The WACC Fallacy: The Real Effects of Using a Unique Discount Rate: The WACC Fallacy KrÜGer, Philipp; Landier, Augustin; Thesmar, David The Journal of Finance, Vol. 70, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.12250	journal	May 2015

Similar Records

Sodium Ion Expansion Power Block for Distributed CSP

Technical Report · Mon Feb 03 00:00:00 EST 2020 · OSTI ID:1608463

Gunawan, Andrey; Limia, Alexander; Yee, Shannon Koa

Demonstration of High-Temperature Calcium-Based Thermochemical Energy Storage System for use with Concentrating Solar Power Facilities

Technical Report · Wed Mar 13 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · OSTI ID:1608463

Muto, Andrew; Hansen, Tim A.

Demonstration of High-Temperature Calcium-Based Thermochemical Energy Storage System for use with Concentrating Solar Power Facilities

Technical Report · Wed Mar 13 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · OSTI ID:1608463

Muto, Andrew; Hansen, Tim

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
42 ENGINEERING
thermally regenerative electrochemical system (TRES)
alkali-metal thermal electric converter (AMTEC)
beta"-alumina solid-electrolyte (BASE)
thermo- electro-chemical conversion
combined heat and power
concentrating solar power
water
thermodynamic power cycles
cogeneration
Rankine cycle
Brayton cycle
thermal desalination
CSP
cost

Title: A Cost-Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power

Citation Formats

References (27)

Similar Records

Related Subjects